How can you use bibliometrics to identify emerging research trends?

1 What are bibliometric indicators?

Bibliometric indicators are numerical measures that reflect various aspects of research performance, such as productivity, citation, collaboration, and visibility. For example, publication count is the number of publications produced by a researcher, institution, or country in a given period or field. Citation count is the number of times a publication is cited by other publications. The H-index is a score that combines the quantity and quality of publications, calculated by the number of publications (h) that have at least h citations each. Impact factor is a ratio of the average number of citations per publication in a journal. Additionally, altmetrics are alternative metrics that capture the online attention and engagement of publications, such as views, downloads, shares, mentions, and likes.

2 How to access bibliometric data?

Bibliometric data can be accessed from various sources, such as databases, platforms, and tools. Scopus is a comprehensive database of peer-reviewed publications which covers over 25,000 journals and 150,000 books across all disciplines. It provides bibliometric data and analysis for authors, institutions, and countries, as well as citation tracking and visualization features. Web of Science is another popular source which offers bibliometric data and analysis for authors, institutions, and countries. Google Scholar is a free search engine that indexes scholarly publications and provides citation counts and h-indexes for authors. Scimago Journal & Country Rank is a platform that ranks journals and countries based on their Scopus data. PlumX Metrics is a tool that tracks and displays the altmetrics of publications such as usage, captures, mentions, social media, and citations. All these sources offer different features to help analyze bibliometric data.

3 How to identify emerging research trends?

Bibliometrics can be beneficial in identifying emerging research trends and topics in your field of interest. By examining bibliometric data and analysis, you can uncover the most cited and influential publications; explore the keywords and terms used in titles and abstracts; analyze the co-authorship and collaboration patterns; visualize the citation networks and clusters; and monitor the altmetrics of publications. This will give you an understanding of what topics, methods, and findings are being addressed, how they change over time, who the leading and emerging researchers are, which institutions and countries are collaborating, how publications are related by themes, and what kind of online attention they receive.

4 How to use bibliometrics responsibly?

Bibliometrics can be a useful and powerful tool for research impact evaluation, but it also has some limitations and challenges. Therefore, you should use bibliometrics responsibly and critically. This includes understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different bibliometric indicators, sources, and methods, and selecting the most suitable ones for your purpose and context. Additionally, it is important to compare and combine different bibliometric indicators, sources, and methods, while avoiding relying on a single or simplistic measure of research impact. Moreover, when interpreting and presenting bibliometric data and analysis, one should do so with caution and transparency while acknowledging any uncertainties or biases that may affect them. Finally, one must respect the ethical and legal principles of research integrity while avoiding manipulating or misusing bibliometric data and analysis for personal or institutional gain.

5 How to learn more about bibliometrics?

If you want to learn more about bibliometrics, you can start by reading books and articles such as Bibliometrics and Research Evaluation: Uses and Abuses and The Metric Tide: Report of the Independent Review of the Role of Metrics in Research Assessment and Management. You can also join online courses and workshops such as Bibliometrics: An Introduction or Measuring your Research Impact. Additionally, you can join communities and networks like the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics or the Bibliometrics Forum to share knowledge and practice.